Cheers for taking the time out of your day to check out my page. So, what is this all about?
Basically I’m going to be doing the swimming leg of The London Triathlon (at the end of July) as part of a team; I’ve NEVER done anything like this before and am genuinely quite scared! The charity I’m raising money for is the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme, a charity dedicated to carrying out whale shark research and to foster 'grass-roots' conservation initiatives within the Maldives and throughout the Indian Ocean.
I fell in love with whale sharks back in 2007 when I was lucky enough to not only see one, but able to swim alongside a 7.2 m youngster whilst on a marine conservation expedition in the Seychelles. Since then I’ve been hooked and whilst trying to find out more about them I realised that not much is known about these immense fish. We know they swim the oceans, covering vast distances, eating only plankton, tiny fish and squid; but questions like how long they live or where they reproduce still remain unanswered. The whale shark is on the IUCN red list and is classified as ‘vulnerable to extinction’. It's imperative that we find out more about these elusive animals in order to conserve them.
So please dig as deep as you can and if you want to find out more about the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme check them out here: http://maldiveswhalesharkresearch.org/
